10 Real Human Superpowers

Shocking Talents

As an electrician, Puerto Rico’s Jose Rafael Marquez Ayala has a particularly suitable super-power: invulnerability to electric shock and the ability to conduct high-voltage high-amperage current through his body, to the extent that he can light bulbs and set fire to paper. It would be like if a bike courier had super-speed, or if a DMV clerk had unlimited contempt for the people in line. Ayala is one of the most impressive examples of a small group of people whose bodies seem to be much better at conducting electricity than the norm, allowing power to flow through them without causing them burns or even pain. Scientists have yet to understand the exact way that Ayala and others avoid injury and death (even if their bodies are too good of a conductor to avoid burns, they still run a huge risk of shorting out their hearts and brains) and while Ayala has visited the University of Puerto Rico’s physics department several times, the researchers there aren’t even sure what tests they can run that won’t endanger his health.